Dunya TV, Akhbariya Souriya and the official Syrian satellite channel are usually broadcast on two different frequencies abroad but both were blocked last night. This morning NileSat and ArabSat reinstated one of the frequencies but the second was still inactive.

The media war is being played out in parallel to the one happening on the ground in Syria. Initially state networks corrupted the signals of AlArabiya and AlJazeera stations, both known supporters of the opposition. This time the retaliation is the other way round.

It’s a damning indictment of how far governments in the Middle East are in control of their press. It’s no coincidence, for example, that AlArabiya, a network funded by Sunni Saudi Arabia, is a supporter of the FSA.

Equally pro-Shia Syrian state networks clearly let their sectarian leanings interfere in their journalism when they impaired the signals of the two most prominent anti-Assad news networks.